LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Musician will.i.am is teaching a three-hour weekly course on agentic AI at Arizona State University this semester, with roughly 80 students enrolled. Students in the class are working to build their own AI agent, a software system that can perform tasks autonomously without requiring a human prompt.

will.i.am, born William Adams in 1975 in a working-class Los Angeles neighborhood, has said humans cannot hope to compete with AI unless they are hyper-creative. "It's the greatest time to dream and materialize concepts that haven't been materialized," he said.

During one class session, he told students to think of themselves as enterprises. "You are a company, Dave. You're not just like a creative dude. You're a company – Claudia – Karen," will.i.am said.

Ren Flint, an undergraduate student in the class, said the instructor has tailored the material for a broad audience. "Not everybody that's coming inside this class has a tech background. He's been able to break AI down and make it accessible to everyone," Flint said.

Luke Azariah, a graduate student, described the course content as forward-looking. "Some people might think what he's talking about might be weird. But this guy is future-proofing a lot of us," Azariah said.

will.i.am devotes class time to discussing ethics and accountability in AI. A video played during one session warned of the risks of using corporate agents without guardrails.

Outside the classroom, will.i.am is an investor in the AI companies Anthropic, OpenAI, and Udio, and has partnered with Apple, Intel, and Nvidia. He co-founded Beats Electronics with Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, which was sold to Apple in 2014 as part of a deal that also included Beats Music for $3 billion.

At age 12, will.i.am took his sister's Barbie and the Rockers cassette tape, recorded his own rap loops over it, and played the mix back through his sister's cassette-tape-powered animatronic Teddy Ruxpin toy bear. "My sister was pissed," he said. His current AI projects include MÖFO, or Modular Omni Function Operator, an AI agent-powered teddy bear developed in partnership with Qualcomm and shown at a technology conference in January 2026. He has said the device is not a toy but is intended to improve productivity and learning, and that its cute exterior helps to humanize AI.

A prototype of Trinity, a three-wheeled electric vehicle equipped with an agentic AI system to help increase productivity while driving, was on display at will.i.am's business complex in April 2026. will.i.am hopes to teach a second semester at Arizona State University. "The joys of making music and singing on stage, we'll always do that. But teaching is this different calling," he said.